Does Macklemore Still Owe Iggy Azalea an Apology for Calling Her Out on “White Privilege II”?

Does Macklemore Still Owe Iggy Azalea an Apology for Calling Her Out on “White Privilege II”?

Hint: The answer is no.

Published March 3rd

Macklemore made countless headlines with his latest single, “White Privilege II,” off his second studio album, This Unruly Mess I’ve Made, which was released last week on February 26.

The song is a follow-up to his track of the same name from 2005, where he addresses white rappers appropriating Black culture and other racially and politically charged topics.

In a new interview for Billboard, Macklemore says that given his personal history with Iggy Azaelea, he should have given her a fair warning she was going to be name dropped in the song, while Azaelea thinks he should have apologized. The two still have yet to talk about the matter, which, judging from the interview, you can tell Macklemore feels a certain way about.

"Iggy and I came up together,” Macklemore said in the cover story that came out today (March 3). “We were on the XXL Freshman cover together. There's enough of a relationship that I should have let her know beforehand. And I didn't do that.”

The verse in questions reads, "You've exploited and stolen the music, the moment / The magic, the passion, the fashion, you toy with / The culture was never yours to make better / You're Miley, you're Elvis, you're Iggy Azalea."

Azalea responded to the line on Twitter saying, he “shouldn't have spent the last 3 yrs having friendly convos and taking pictures together at events etc if those were his feelings.”

Which further proves that Azalea just didn't get it, and likely still doesn't a month after the single's release.

Talib Kweli was quick to call her out for her response to the song saying, “The fact Iggy Azalea thinks Macklemore song was a diss to her, instead of actually listening, is proof of her privilege. F**k Iggy Azalea.”

For Macklemore, the verse is about unpacking and dealing with internalized criticism and self-doubt, especially within a context of feeling insecure at a modern day protest against police brutality, for example.

In the interview, he goes on to talk about how he marched to protest the grand jury’s decision not to indict police officer Darren Wilson for the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Macklemore also confided that he and Ryan Lewis attended a six-month informal seminar on race, which was taught by Georgia Roberts.

"The night of the non-indictment was the biggest one in terms of realizing I had been silent [about racism] out of fear," Macklemore said. "I had been silent out of not wanting to mess up, out of a fear of saying the wrong thing. If I said the wrong thing, that would be a bigger story than me supporting it."

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